1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a related apparatus for controlling data transmission. In particular, the present invention discloses a method and a related apparatus for controlling a peripheral device to transfer data to a bus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally speaking, a computer system has a plurality of electronic components. In addition, the computer system also has many buses used for delivering data outputted from one electronic component to other electronic components. In other words, the buses establish connections among the electronic components installed on the computer system. Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a diagram of a prior art computer system 10. The computer system 10 comprises a central processing unit (CPU) 12, a north bridge circuit 14, a south bridge circuit 16, a PCI bus 18, a display controller 20, a memory 22, a small computer system interface (SCSI) controller 24, a hard-disk drive 26, a network controller 28, and an audio controller 30. The CPU 12 is used for controlling overall operations of the computer system 10. The north bridge circuit 14 is used for arbitrating signal transmission between high-speed peripheral devices (the display controller 20 and the memory 22 for example) and the CPU 12. However, the south bridge circuit 16 is used for arbitrating signal transmission between low-speed peripheral devices (the hard-disk drive 26, the network controller 28, and the audio controller 30 for example) and the north bridge circuit 14. As mentioned above, the PCI bus 18 on the computer system 10 is used for establishing connections among peripheral devices.
The display controller 20 is used for driving an external display device such as a monitor through video signals. The memory 22 is a volatile storage device for storing volatile data. The SCSI controller 24 functions as a bridge used for controlling signal transmission between the PCI bus 18 and a device (the hard-disk drive 26 for instance) connected to the SCSI controller 24. It is well-known that the hard-disk drive 26 is a non-volatile storage device for storing non-volatile data. The network controller 28 such as a network interface card (NIC) is used for controlling data transmission between the computer system 10 and an external network. The audio controller 30 such as an audio card is used for performing signal conversion between digital audio signals and analog audio signals. That is, the audio controller 30 is capable of converting digital audio signals into corresponding analog audio signals for driving a speaker, and is also capable of converting analog audio signals inputted by a microphone into corresponding digital audio signals.
As mentioned above, the peripheral devices such as the network controller 28, the audio controller 30, and the hard-disk drive 26 have to utilize the PCI bus 18 to transfer data to the memory 22 or the CPU 12 through the north bridge circuit 14 and the south bridge circuit 16. Therefore, how to efficiently utilize the PCI bus 18 to deliver massive data has become an important issue.